Soybeans Drop With Corn as Drier Weather May Boost Crops

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans and corn tumbled for a fourth session in Chicago as drier conditions in the U.S. may speed up planting and allow crop development to accelerate. Wheat declined.

The U.S. Midwest may see only scattered rain most of this week before conditions turn wetter starting June 22, Commodity Weather Group said in a report. As of June 9, soybean planting was 71 percent finished, while corn sowing was 95 percent complete and 85 percent of plants had emerged from the soil, behind the average pace, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. The agency will update its weekly crop progress report today. Much of the central and northern U.S. had above-normal rain in the past two months, National Weather Service data show.

"Weather has been suitable for crop development in the U.S.," Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager for researcher at Nihon Unicom Inc., wrote in an e-mail today in a reply to Bloomberg questions. "With favorable growing conditions in the U.S., farmers are on course to produce a record crop."

Soybeans for delivery in November, after the U.S. harvest, fell 1 percent to $12.8575 a bushel at 6:50 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade on volume that was 37 percent above the 100-day average for that time of day. The oilseed declined 2.4 percent last week. Corn for delivery in December lost 0.9 percent to $5.2825 a bushel after dropping 4.6 percent last week.

Corn Crop

Farmers in the U.S. will harvest a record 355.7 million metric tons of corn in the year beginning Sept. 1, boosting world output to the highest ever and rebuilding inventories that declined following last year’s drought, the USDA said June 12. U.S. soybean production will reach an all-time high of 92.3 million tons, also lifting world output and inventories to records, it said.

Chinese soybean imports, the world’s largest, will be 63 million tons in the year starting Oct. 1, below the USDA’s 69 million-ton forecast, according to the median of estimates by 14 China-based crushers and researchers compiled by Bloomberg.

Wheat for delivery in September declined 0.5 percent to $6.8525 a bushel. In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in November dropped 0.5 percent to 195.25 euros ($260.48) a ton on NYSE Liffe. Prices touched 195 euros, the lowest for the contract since May 2012.

Russia’s grain exports may climb 18 percent from last year to 19 million tons as production rebounds after dry weather, Moscow-based researcher SovEcon said June 13. The country began its winter barley harvest about 10 days ahead of normal, with 148,300 tons collected as of June 14, the Agriculture Ministry said. Russian and European Union grains compete for markets in North Africa, the world’s largest wheat-importing region.

"Russia has started its 2013 grain harvest, with southern regions reporting yields considerably higher than last season," David Sheppard, a managing director at Gainsborough, England- based grain exporter Gleadell Agriculture Ltd., said in a report today. "With harvests set to progress in many southern EU and Black Sea states, increased export inventories will soon enter the supply chain."